Janetta Rundel, born into a poor miner’s family in a small village in Cornwall, grows into an extraordinarily beautiful woman. She determines to use her beauty, charm and ability to mimic refined speech to rise above poverty and become a lady. 

In a tough Victorian world where class determines your future, Janetta has a hard struggle ahead of her. Finding a position as a domestic servant in the house of a lonely Colonel of the Royal Regiment of Artillery she soon discovers that she has a talent for controlling men’s hearts.

Attracted to the glamour of the regiment, she embarks on a dangerous career of turning heads and encouraging the regiment’s officers and men to commit black mail and even murder to win her heart. Through two husbands, love affairs, a court martial and the one true love she can never have, she struggles to survive; and through it all she must defeat an implacable enemy. 

It is difficult to distinguish who is more ambitious: Kerby and the historic diligence required to craft this well-informed debut novel or his indecently charming femme fatale. From impoverished and vulnerable to cunning and downright unconscionable, Janetta – at times unwittingly – carves acareer as the regiment’s woman.

Katherine Moore, Homes Publishing Group, Ontario